Of Furkey and Other Favorites
by bluemoonmaverick
Summary: It's Thanksgiving back home, but Jack and Sam are stranded on distant planet with nothing but each other. Just a little piece of fluff in celebration of my third favorite holiday. One shot, set mid Season 3.


**A/N - Sorry this is a day late, but I didn't write it until yesterday evening. :) Many thanks to the fastest beta in the west, MidKnight Rider.**

**Hope all who were celebrating had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Enjoy!**

Of Furkey and Other Favorites

Sam looked at her watch for the hundredth time that evening and let out a long sigh, drawing the attention of her commanding officer. He was seated beside her, diligently preparing the day's kill for the spit.

"Somewhere you gotta be, Carter?" he asked sharply as he positioned the meat over the fire.

"No, sir," she replied, biting back the far more acerbic reply that had been on the tip of her tongue.

Nope, she thought, nowhere at all, especially since there weren't a lot of places to go at the moment. After all, they'd been stranded on this god forsaken planet for three days, following a freak storm that had come out of nowhere just as they were dialing home.

She was fairly certain Daniel and Teal'c had made it back, the lucky bastards, but unfortunately for Sam and her CO, a bolt of lightning had struck the gate just as they were about to run through it, causing the wormhole to disengage and blowing all the crystals in the control panel. She had tinkered with DHD for an entire day, but without replacement crystals, it was impossible to fix. But what had her really perplexed (and more than slightly concerned) was why the SGC hadn't dialed them.

Nevertheless, things could have been worse. She and Jack had most of their supplies with them, including enough MREs to last a month, as well as the tent. Aside from the storm, the weather was temperate, and there was a nearby source of fresh water. And while the planet had an abundance of both flora and fauna, so far they hadn't stumbled across anything that might harm them, including people.

No, the only threat to Sam's health was the possibility that she just might die of boredom, a serious concern ever since the battery on her laptop had died two days ago. Then, of course, there was always the potential that her CO, who had become increasingly testy himself, could snap.

As luck would have it, her watch alarm chose to go off at exactly that moment. She rushed to silence it.

"Carter?" Jack barked again.

"Sorry, sir." She said sheepishly. She let out another sigh.

He twisted around to look at her. "Okay, Major. What's going on?"

"Nothing, sir." He pinned her with a disbelieving glare, and she shook her head in resignation. "It's just...well, today is Thanksgiving back on Earth."

"It is?" he asked, genuinely surprised.

"Yes, sir."

Jack looked down at his own watch as though it should have told him as much. Seeing that there was no display indicating the major holidays, he pondered how his subordinate had obtained a better timepiece than his, until he realized that this was Carter and she probably just rewrote the code on hers. Or something like that.

"Ah. I guess you had plans, then?" He found himself repressing an unexpected and completely irrational feeling of jealousy.

"I was supposed to go to San Diego to be with my brother and his family. They'd never invited me before..." She shrugged. "They should be sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner about now."

He suddenly felt guilty, even though it was hardly his fault they were stuck here. He glanced at the bird-like creature he'd shot earlier, now roasting on the spit.

"Well, I know it's not exactly a Thanksgiving feast, but at least we have this." He gestured in the general direction of the bird. "It kinda looked like a turkey."

Sam gave him an indulgent smile. "I was thinking it looked more like an ostrich, sir. With fur."

He cut off a small piece of meat and popped it in his mouth. "Well, whatever it is, it doesn't taste half bad. We've certainly had worse. So, in honor of Thanksgiving, I think I'll just call it furry turkey, or maybe furkey, for short." He cut off another piece and handed it to her.

"Thank you, sir," she said as she tasted it tentatively. Much to her surprise, she found it delicious.

"So any Thanksgiving traditions in the Carter household?" he asked after they'd been eating for a while.

Sam shifted a bit. "Well, when my mom was still alive, she always had us go around the table and say what we were thankful for."

"You mean like pie?"

She laughed. "Well, that might be one thing."

"So, what are you thankful for, Carter?"

Sam thought about his question for a minute. "I guess I'm thankful for this furkey."

"Right," he grinned. "And for the fact that no one's shooting at us at the moment."

"And that's it's warm."

"And dry."

She paused again. "I'm thankful that Daniel and Teal'c made it through the 'gate before it got fried."

"_I'm_ thankful that they're working on getting us back," Jack added.

"Um..." Sam began, trying desperately to think of something else to say as the seconds ticked by.

"I'm thankful to have you," Jack said out of the blue.

Sam's eyes widened slightly, and only then did it dawn on him how that sounded. He tried to backpedal. "Not that I, you know, _have_ you - I don't have you. I've never had you." Jesus, what the hell was wrong with him? "What I mean is that I'm glad you're with me here, now. As my Second," he added quickly. "That you're here with me as my Second." He winced and extended a drumstick in Sam's direction. "More furkey?" he asked, wondering what power she possessed to turn him into a blithering idiot.

Sam ducked her head, but not before Jack saw her blush prettily in the firelight, and he thought all the tripping over his own tongue may have just been worth it after all.

"Thank you, sir," she said softly, bringing her big, blue eyes up to meet his. "I'm thankful to have you, too."

And now he was sure it was worth it. His stomach did a little flip flop and for once in his life he was speechless. He looked at her, _really_ looked at her, and that was the precise moment he knew he was completely screwed. God, she was perfect. Smart and brave, kind and loyal, a helluva good shot with just enough attitude to make her interesting, all wrapped up in one tall and curvy, blue-eyed, blond-haired bombshell of a body.

Yep, she was pretty much everything he'd ever wanted. Except she was the one person he couldn't have.

He held her gaze before she finally looked away, embarrassed. What on earth did she have to be embarrassed about? Oh yeah. He was staring at her.

He cleared his throat. "When I was young, my dad would set up his old telescope after the big holiday dinner, and he'd drag the whole family out into the cold to look at the stars. Well, at least on clear nights, that is." He cocked his head as though a thought had just occurred to him. "Huh, I always wondered why my mother wished it would snow on Thanksgiving."

Sam laughed. "Is that where you developed your interest in astronomy, sir?"

"Yeah, I guess it is."

She looked skyward. "Well, it's a clear night tonight."

He gave her a half grin. "I don't have a telescope."

"I think we can make do," she replied, her eyes twinkling.

He smiled broadly at her and quickly scouted the surrounding area, looking for a good place for stargazing. He soon spotted a small rise a short distance from their camp yet far enough away to keep their campfire from interfering with the view. He stood and held out his hand. She grasped it immediately, and he pulled her to her feet.

They climbed the hill and settled in the grass, lying back with their hands clasped behind their heads. For the next half hour, they took turns pointing out made up constellations in the unfamiliar sky.

"That one looks like a turkey," Sam said, pointing to a group of stars directly above them. "Or maybe a furkey."

Jack squinted. "I think you have turkey on the brain, Carter. But I do see an Indian."

"As in the people who saved the pilgrims?"

"Nope." He grinned. "As in the motorcycle."

"You're making that up!"

"Am not. Here, point up at the sky."

Sam did as instructed and, much to her surprise, Jack placed his own pointed hand over hers. As he guided it to the place he wanted her to look, she tried very hard not to think about how strong and warm his hand felt on hers.

"Maybe..." she said skeptically, tilting her head in an attempt to see the picture he'd traced for her in the sky.

He lowered their joined hands to the ground between them but didn't completely let go, and she realized that she liked that a whole lot more than she should.

They spent the next several minutes pointing out increasingly ridiculous constellations to one another, and she found that she was laughing quite a bit for someone stuck on a remote planet light years from home. And that was when it occurred to her that she was really, really glad she wasn't in San Diego.

"Carter," he said, interrupting her thoughts. "Is it just me, or is that star moving?"

"Sir?" she asked, but the second she looked up at the sky, she saw an increasingly bright pinpoint of light moving at an angle across the horizon. She furrowed her brow. "Not only is it moving; it's getting closer!"

Startled, they sprang to their feet and hurried back to their campsite to grab their weapons. Now armed, they watched as the light continued to grow larger.

"It's a ship!" Sam exclaimed.

"A tel'tak by the look of it," Jack added.

"The Tok'ra?"

"I sure hope so."

Within seconds, the ship had landed nearly on top of their campsite. As the hatch began to open, they raised their P90s and took aim. Almost immediately, though, they heard a very familiar voice.

"Don't shoot!"

No sooner had Jack and Sam lowered their weapons than they saw Daniel and Teal'c standing in the open entryway of the ship. The two of them were joined almost immediately by Jacob.

"Dad!" exclaimed Jack and Sam at the same time.

Jacob Carter gave his daughter and her CO a cocky grin. "Heard you needed a lift."

The next several minutes were spent exchanging hugs and handshakes and excuses about why the SGC hadn't contacted them earlier.

"The lightning strike shorted out the dialing computer at Cheyenne Mountain," Jacob explained. "It'll be a few more days yet before it's repaired. Maybe less now that we've got you, Sam." He winked at his daughter, then inclined his head in the direction of their campsite. "Now go grab your gear. If you hurry, we might just make it back to Earth before all the leftovers are gone."

Sam and Jack quickly gathered their things and headed back toward the ship. Just before they entered though, Jack stopped suddenly and turned to Sam. "Sorry your Thanksgiving got ruined, Carter."

She gave him a soft smile that caused a completely inappropriate thrill to shoot through his body.

"Actually, sir, it wasn't so bad after all," she replied, her voice low and full of meaning.

And with that, she walked past him into the ship, leaving him standing there, grinning like an idiot and thinking that Thanksgiving may just have become his favorite holiday.

The End


End file.
